FM: EU may eventually call Hezbollah a terror group

Liberman cites significant support for Israeli call to add Hezbollah to EU terrorist blacklist, says process could take time.

Lieberman 311.
(photo credit:Ariel Jerozolimski)

There is significant support for Israel's call to add Hezbollah to the
EU's terrorist blacklist, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman told Israel
Radio from Brussels, in an interview aired Wednesday morning.

Liberman
met Tuesday with his EU colleagues as part of the annual EU-Israel
Association Council meeting, where he called on the body to put the
Lebanese organization on its terrorist list.

He said that
discussion of his request, which seemed to be initially dismissed by EU
officials, had been misrepresented, and that no one had expected it to
be immediately accepted without debate.

The foreign minster
added that it is a complicated process which requires the consensus of
37 countries, but he sounded hopeful as he stated that he had heard a
lot of support for the move. "We have put the proposal forward
officially," he said, indicating that it was a substantial beginning of
what could be a long process to achieve the desired result.

Addressing
fears that Syria would pass chemical or biological weapons on to
Hezbollah, Liberman stated that for Israel this was a "red line" that
would require immediate action. He said that all countries understood
the gravity of such a move by Syria, and expressed his belief that
Syrian President Bashar Assad also understood this, which was
demonstrated by his regime's statements that the weapons were safely
guarded.

The foreign minister reiterated sentiments expressed by
both Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and himself on Tuesday, that
Israel was keen to repair relations with Turkey, which deteriorated
following the May 2010 Mavi Marmara incident.

Liberman said that
he did not see any reason why Israel and Turkey could not enjoy normal
relations, and stressed that the two countries had many shared
interests.

Finally, Liberman asserted that Yisrael Beytenu would
without a doubt, oppose Vice Premier Moshe Ya'alon's proposal to replace
the Tal Law, which he branded as "Tal Law 2."